Former Maradona girlfriend testifies in trafficking case

Diego Maradona's former Cuban girlfriend, Mavys Álvarez, testified Thursday before an Argentine judge in a case against friends of the deceased former soccer player for alleged human trafficking.

Álvarez, who is now 37, testified that she had a relationship as a 16-year-old teenager with the former Argentine team captain - who died in November of last year - while he was in Cuba treating his drug addiction in the early 2000's.

Despite defining the relationship as "consensual" Álvarez, who spoke of her tryst with the aging soccer legend in an interview in Miami in September, said that she became addicted to cocaine induced by Maradona.

Álvarez now lives in Miami.

In addition, during the interview she stated that she had been a victim of gender violence and that, on several occasions, both of them traveled to Buenos Aires at the end of 2001 without going through adequate migration control upon entering Argentina, where she was pressured to have breast implants.

It is this trip, which according to the woman took place without the consent of her parents despite the fact that she was a minor, which motivated the intervention by the Argentine justice for alleged human trafficking crimes.

Álvarez also targeted the former soccer player's close friends, such as his former representative Guillermo Coppola and other friends who accompanied him during his stay in Cuba.

The judicial complaint was brought by the Foundation for Peace and Climate Change led by Fernando Míguez before the Office of the Prosecutor for Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons in Buenos Aires.

Álvarez has said that she was not allowed to leave the hotel where she was staying and that she was later transferred to a house where she had to be cured of the infection caused by the surgery.

Maradona traveled with Álvarez to Argentina to participate in his tribute match on the Boca Juniors court in November 2001.

IMAGE: AP